Thoughts On The Christmas Airline Bombing Attempt

More New Rules of Flight

There’s no point in me trying to give a rundown of what the “new rules” of flight are in the wake of the recent attempted airline bombing. I say there’s no point because the rules change day to day, and will continue to be in flux. Its reactionary, to be sure. At first we heard of restrictions on what could be brought on as carry-on luggage, then there was an all out ban of carry-on luggage except for certain items. Westjet announced changes to their flights, then removed them when the US announced they weren’t required.

All of this within the span of four days.

So we’re going to see more announcements with changes to policies over the next few days. I am so thankful that I’m not flying this holiday, but also feel horribly for the thousands that are and are being affected by all this.

Conspiracy Theories

He acted alone, terrorists took credit for it, the Yemin connection, the supposed alerts his father gave authorities, etc. etc.

Many experts and non-experts will be weighing in on what happened behind the scenes and what transpired to cause this event. Mattew Good has some interesting posts on his blog with various information and thoughts (the guy isn’t just a pretty face with a guitar y’know).

The reality is, like anything (lately at least it seems) to do with the US government, the war on terror, and heightened sensibilities, we’re not going to get the true details; just filtered information from various sources that may corroborate or contradict each other.

My Own Thoughts

So what does this latest incident tell us about the state of the world, our perceived security, and the potential for new threats (and I may sound like I’m throwing my hat in the ring with the other non-experts I mentioned above)?

- While Canadian airports are beefing up security, there’s no talk of what has been done to increase security in Europe which is where this flight originated (or maybe there has been and I haven’t heard/read it, but its not making the news here). So once again Canadians have to suffer thanks to another’s faulty security.

- Threats are still out there, and the more disconcerting part of this incident is that there was no major target. No offense to the people of Detroit, but if you’re going to make a statement that’s probably way low on your list of destinations. However, whether its a guy acting alone or part of a group, the fact that the target wasn’t necessarily any major city or landmark but simply a US-bound aircraft does raise some concerns.

- I wonder if we’re becoming desensitized to the idea of localized attacks? When 9/11 happened, there was no doubt the shock and horror that people felt, both in and out of the US. But this latest attack, while newsworthy, hasn’t seemed to garner the same sort of emotions. This was, regardless of the backstory, an attempted murder of hundreds of people on a flight…one that was carried out not against individuals but against a country. And yet the inconveniences of heightened security (albeit reactionary) seem to trump the potential loss of life that could have resulted. To me, this is scary. In my mind we need to value the fact that we don’t have the issues other countries have: bombings, genocide, violent clashes in streets. When we get desensitized to local violence we’re taking a step backwards, a very dangerous step.